PWS.pdf

Performance Work Statement (PWS)

Branch Chief Equipping Program II: Using Case-Ex® Videos for Leadership

Development in the Environmental Lab

1. Background

The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is responsible for investigating, developing and maintaining the nation's water and related environmental resources;

constructing and operating projects for navigation, flood control, major drainage, shore and beach restoration and protection, related hydro power development, water supply, water quality control, fish and wildlife conservation and enhancement, and outdoor recreation. USACE responds to emergency relief activities as directed by other federal agencies and enforces laws for the protection and preservation of navigable waters for emergency flood control and shore protection.

The Engineer Research and Development Centers (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory is the problem solver for the Corps and the Nation in environmental science and engineering research and development for environmental systems. The staff advances the environmental missions of the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, and the

Nation through research, development, special studies, and technology transfer.

Environmental Laboratory research includes a network of expertise and facilities from other ERDC and Corps laboratories, other government agencies, academia, and the private sector. The mission of the Environmental Laboratory spans both military and civil needs and objectives. The ERDC Environmental Laboratory background, missions and site information is located at http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/index.cfm

1.1 Scope

To sustain ERDC’s R&D mission, this Performance Work Statement outlines tasks and related deliverables related to leadership development workshops for the continued strengthening of EL Branch Chiefs and training on crisis leadership for the entire EL staff. The contractor shall provide all personnel, supervision, and services necessary to develop Case-Ex® video case studies of the dilemmas and decisions of EL supervisors/team leads, conduct leadership development workshops using the Case-

Ex® video case studies, perform coaching, and facilitate lab-wide workshops. All deliverables will be provided to the EL as defined in this Performance Work Statement.

The work is outlined below. Place of performance primarily will be virtual due the

COVID restrictions.

2 General Requirements

This section describes the general requirements for this effort. The following sub-sections provide details of various considerations on this effort.

2.1 Non-Personal Services

The Government shall neither supervise a contractor nor control the method by which the contractor performs the required tasks. Under no circumstances shall the

Government assign tasks to, or prepare work schedules for, individual contractors. It shall be the responsibility of the contractor to manage its workforce and to guard against any actions that are of the nature of personal services, or give the perception of personal services. If the contractor believes that any actions constitute, or are perceived to constitute personal services, it shall be the contractor's responsibility to notify the

Procuring Contracting Officer (KO) immediately.

2.2 Business Relations

The contractor shall successfully integrate and coordinate all activity needed to execute the requirement. The contractor shall manage the timeliness, completeness, and quality of problem identification. The contractor shall provide corrective action plans, proposal submittals, timely identification of issues, and effective management of subcontractors.

The contractor shall seek to ensure customer satisfaction and professional and ethical behavior of all contractor personnel.

2.3 Contract Administration and Management

The following subsections specify requirements for contract, management, and personnel administration.

2.3.1 Contract Administration

The Contractor shall establish processes and assign appropriate resources to effectively administer the requirement. The contractor shall respond to Government requests for contractual actions in a timely fashion. The contractor shall have a single point of contact with the Government.

2.3.2 Contractor Workforce Administration

The contractor shall make necessary travel arrangements to task locations.

2.4 Subcontract Management

The contractor shall be responsible for any subcontract management necessary to integrate work performed on this requirement and shall be responsible and accountable for subcontractor performance on this requirement. The prime contractor will manage work distribution to ensure there are no Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) considerations. Contractors may add subcontractors to their team after notification to the Procuring Contracting Officer (KO) or Contracting Officer Representative (COR).

Cross teaming may be permitted.

2.5 Contractor Personnel, Disciplines, and Specialties

The contractor shall accomplish the assigned work by employing and utilizing qualified personnel with appropriate combinations of education, training, and experience. This work shall be executed by subject matter experts and trainers with the following qualifications: 1) experienced with the Case-Ex® approach; 2) knowledgeable about the unique dilemmas faced by ERDC supervisors who lead an R&D organization; 3) experienced with formulating leadership development programs for supervisors who don’t have previous leadership experience outside their technical realm of expertise; 4) experts in communication, including conducting analyses, recommending improvement strategies, and providing implementation feedback; and 5) understand how to lead in a virtual environment.

3 Performance Requirements

The following section specifies the Performance Objectives and Requirements for the contract.

3.1 Develop online Case-Ex® library to facilitate EL corporate culture for new and existing employees. The Contractor shall develop an online Case-Ex® library to facilitate EL corporate culture, communication and orientation in a virtual environment.

The library may be used to enhance onboarding process of new EL hires and human capital efforts. The Contractor may use existing videos and propose to create new ones to capture relevant, real-world scenarios of dilemmas faced by ERDC or EL

Senior Leaders for leading in a virtual environment. The video library may be in the form of a decision obstacle course or an orientation for leadership development. The

Contractor may have to revise library based on alpha and beta testing and remarks.

Deliverables: Online Case-Ex® video library that will be used to orient research scientist and engineer employees to EL culture and leadership.

Period of performance: 18 months after award

3.2 Conduct Branch Chief Equipping Program workshops for 25 participants. The

Contractor shall conduct virtual workshops for 12 Branch Chiefs, Division Chiefs, and

Deputy Director. The objectives of the leadership development workshops are: 1)

Leading through change, 2) Leading in complex situations, 3) Leading in a virtual environment, and 4) Leading and facilitating focus groups to address the new EL structure of “tiered governance.”

Surveys will be distributed to each participant at the end of each workshop to identify if objectives were met.

Deliverables: Workshops with materials and surveys. The Technical Representative and COR will review workshop materials 2 weeks before each workshop. Survey summaries will be provided after each workshop.

3.3 Conduct an interactive training workshop for 25 Branch Chiefs and researchers to improve leadership and communication using the Praevius Blue

Team approach. The Contractor shall conduct and facilitate 1 virtual workshop that will provide EL Branch Chiefs and researchers insight into how effectively communicate processes and products to Senior Leaders in a military organization.

The objectives of the workshop are: 1) show constraints of communicating R&D to

ERDC Senior Leaders, 2) show how R&D advances the ERDC, 3) show how to formulate and articulate processes to ERDC Senior Leaders.

Deliverables: Workshops with materials and surveys. The Technical Representative and COR will review workshop materials after each workshop. Survey summaries will be provided after each workshop.

3.4 Conduct workshops on crisis leadership with a lab-wide focus (250 employees). These workshops will focus on remaining productive while balancing work/life during a crisis, with themes such as providing excellent R&D in a virtual environment, what is work/life balance, effective electronic communication themes of the second administrative workshop that focused on communication and leadership skills. The Contractor shall conduct 1 workshop to strengthen lab employees during a crisis. The Contractor may choose to use Case-Ex® videos of EL and ERDC Senior

Leaders to introduce scenarios. The objectives of the workshop are: 1) stress management, 2) increase employee confidence, and 3) enhance employee resilience.

Deliverables: Workshop with materials and surveys. The Technical Representative and COR will review workshop materials 2 weeks before each workshop. Survey summaries will be provided after each workshop.

3.5 Using Trail Marke® Coaching for Division Chiefs and Branch Chiefs to foster more cohesive interactions for each EL Division. The Contractor shall provide one-to-one coaching to challenge Division Chiefs and Branch Chiefs to become more independent and to identify strengths and weaknesses or constraints.

The goal is to provide insight on how Branch Chiefs interact with each other and the

Division Chief for each of EL’s two Divisions. The Contractor may offer feedback on progress made.

The Contractor shall 1) provide bimonthly coaching, and 2) provide virtual face-to-face one-on-one briefing for each participant twice per year.

Coaching sessions may occur at any time convenient both to the Contractor and the participant. Sessions may be virtual face-to-face and/or via the telephone.

Deliverables: Coaching for each participant. The Technical Representative and COR will follow-up with each participant to ensure deliverables are being met.

Estimated Level of effort: 11 participants x 6 sessions

3.6 Using TrailMarke® Coaching Techniques, facilitate workshops to foster more cohesive interactions for each EL Division. The Contractor shall facilitate meetings between the participants to share common leadership goals, obstacles, and progress made. The goal is to provide insight on how Branch Chiefs interact with each other and the Division Chief for each of EL’s two Divisions. The Contractor may offer feedback on progress made.

The Contractor may offer feedback about how to adjust or make improvements for each unit.

Meetings may include both divisions or meetings may be for separate divisions, each with its own employees. Meeting time, place and length will be mutually agreed upon before each meeting.

Deliverables: Meeting facilitation. The Technical Representative and COR will follow-up to ensure deliverables are being met.

Estimated Level of effort: 1 meeting

4 Special Requirements

This section describes the special requirements for this effort. The following sub-sections provide details of various considerations on this effort.

4.1 Security Requirements

Access and General Protection/Security Policy and Procedures:

The contractor and all associated subcontractors’ employees shall comply with applicable installation, access and local security policies and procedures. Policies and procedures will be provided by the local Security Office. The contractor workforce must comply with all personal identity verification requirements as directed by DoD, HQDA, and local policies. In addition to the changes otherwise authorized by the changes clause of this contract, should the Force Protection Condition (FPCON) at any individual facility or installation change, the Government may require changes in contractor security matters or processes.

For contractors who do not require CAC, but require access to a DoD facility or installation:

Contractor and all associated sub-contractors employees shall comply with adjudication standards and procedures using the National Crime Information Center Interstate

Identification Index (NCIC-III) and Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) (Army Directive

2014-05 / AR 190-13), applicable installation, facility and area commander installation/facility access and local security policies and procedures (provided by government representative, as NCIC and TSDB are available), or, at OCONUS locations, in accordance with status of forces agreements and other theater regulations.

Contractor Company to obtain a Facility Clearance and individual clearances at the appropriate level:

The Contractor must pre-screen Candidates using the E-verify Program

(http://www.uscis.gov/e-verify) website to meet the established employment eligibility requirements. The Vendor must ensure that the Candidate has two valid forms of

Government issued identification prior to enrollment to ensure the correct information is entered into the E-verify system. An initial list of verified/eligible Candidates must be provided to the COR no later than 3 business days after the initial contract award."

*When contracts are with individuals, the individuals will be required to complete a Form

I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, with the designated Government representative.

This Form will be provided to the Contracting Officer and shall become part of the official contract file.

4.2 Quality

This section describes the Quality Control components for this effort. The following sub-sections provide details of various considerations on this effort.

4.2.1 Quality Control

The Contractor shall submit a Quality Control Plan demonstrating ability to assure that requirements of the contract are met across the functional requirements outlined in this PWS.

4.2.2 Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)

The Government shall monitor the Contractors performance in accordance with the

Government’s QASP.

Performance Requirement Summary (PRS)

Task Number and Statement

Standards/AQLs

3.1 Develop online Case-

Ex® library to facilitate EL corporate culture for new and existing employees

Standard:

Online Case-Ex® video library that will be used to orient research scientist and engineer employees to EL culture and leadership.

AQL Delays should be reported as soon as possible.

Customer satisfaction 95% of the time.

3.2 Conduct Branch

Chief Equipping Program workshops for 25 participants

Standard:

Workshops that develop leadership skills for Branch Chiefs and researchers using Case-Ex® video case studies.

AQL Customer satisfaction 95% of the time. Revisions to the workshops may be implemented after customer feedback.

3.3 Conduct an

interactive training workshop for 25 Branch Chiefs and researchers to improve leadership and communication using the Praevius Blue Team approach

Standard:

Workshops that improve innovation communication for EL Branch Chiefs and researchers.

AQL Delays should be reported as soon as possible.

Customer satisfaction 95% of the time.

3.4 Conduct workshops

on crisis leadership with a lab-wide focus (250 employees)

Standard:

The objectives of the workshop are: 1) stress management, 2) increase employee confidence, and 3) enhance employee resilience.

AQL Customer satisfaction 95% of the time. Revisions to the workshops may be implemented after customer feedback.

3.5 Using Trail Marke™

Coaching for Division Chiefs and Branch Chiefs to foster more cohesive interactions for each EL Division.

Standard:

Coaching sessions for EL Leaders, Branch Chiefs, and Research Team Leads.

AQL Customer satisfaction 95% of the time.

3.6 Using Trail Marke™

Coaching Facilitate workshops to foster more cohesive interactions for each EL Division.

Standard:

Meetings for EL Leaders, Branch Chiefs, and Research Team Leads to build cohesion.

AQL Customer satisfaction 95% of the time. Revisions to the workshops may be implemented after customer feedback.